This application is related to the following five applications concurrently filed and directed to a tape feeding, cutting and ejecting apparatus for a mailing machine: Ser. No. 08,203,132 for Roll-Tape Knife Control for a Tape-Cutting Apparatus in a Mailing Machine; Ser. No. 08/203,130 for Method for Preventing Jams in a Tape Ejecting Apparatus; Ser. No. 08/203,454 for Method for Initializing a Tape Feeding, Cutting and Ejection Apparatus for a Mailing Machine; Ser. No. 08/203,461 for Method for Control of Length of Imprint for a Mailing Machine; and, Ser. No. 08/203,461 all of which are assigned to the assignee of the instant application.
In addition it is related to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,703, 5,390,594, and 5,392,704 all of which are assigned to the assignee of the instant application.
Mailing machines are well known. Generally, mailing machines comprise a postage meter for printing an indicia on a piece of mail or on a tape and a feed base for transporting mailpieces or tapes for printing by the postage meter. Tape feeding mechanisms have typically not been incorporated into small mailing machines because of the costs involved. One of the requirements contributing to these costs is that the speed of the tape being fed must be closely matched to the speed of the postage meter drum which is imprinting on the tape. U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,047 to Vanderpool, et al describes a labelling device which includes a microprocessor control system using feedback information from a timing disk that includes a number of marks which provide signals indicating the actual position of the labels on an associated web of material.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,392,703; 5,390,594; and 5,392,704 previously mentioned above, describe a mailing machine in which the conveyor motor for transporting mailpieces is supplied with signals by an optical sensor and slotted wheel for providing count pulses for position location and speed measurement.
In order to reduce costs of the tape unit, it has been found necessary to use a small motor for feeding the tape to the postage meter for imprinting and to avoid the use of expensive encoding mechanisms to determine the actual location and speed of the strip. However, it will be appreciated that at the same time in an application such as the one described herein, a small motor is subjected to extremely variable loads during the course of operation of the tape feeding and cutting operations and it is thus very difficult to control the motor in an open loop operation or as described in the previously cited application to obtain the proper speeds. The use of conventional position encoding is precluded if the objective of lowest possible cost is to be met.